A Cortex Crises
by LilPanther
Summary: Uka uka threatened Dr Neo Cortex that if he doesn't create a successful plan for world domination then he will destroy something precious to him. Neo can only turn to his arch enemy for his help. Will enemies turn into friends? Will they stop Uka uka and what secrets will it reveal? Set after Crash Twinsanity.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Beautiful People and welcome to my first fanfiction in a long time. I decided to do a Crash Bandicoot about our favourite evil scientist as I realise there are not a lot of stories in this fandom and I would like to make one. So, I hope you enjoy and don't hesitate to leave a review or any feedback.**

**Disclaimer: The original Crash bandicoot characters belongs to Naughty Dog, Nina Cortex belongs to Vicarious Visions or Traveller's Tales and my OC belongs to me. (Obviously) XD**

**Chapter 1**

These past few days had become very confusing for Dr Neo Cortex. He couldn't remember how managed to team up with his arch enemy to fight against his old pet parrots. One minute he was baiting Crash into a trap, fighting over a crystal and then the minute they meet the Evil Twins, they suddenly teamed up, brought Nina with him and defeated the Evil Twins together and he enjoyed it? Cortex is shocked by this realisation and decided to go to bed to get a full night sleep after those eventful few days. On his way, he stopped at Nina's bedroom to check up on her. She looks so peaceful and innocent when she sleeps. He can't help but be proud of her for handling her first adventure really well. He was worried it was a bit too much for her but he underestimated her, realising that she is strong, intelligent and dedicated.

'Just like her mother' thought Cortex.

"What are you looking at master?" Cortex screams as he turns around to see N. Gin, giving him a curious look.

"Nothing. What are you doing here!? Why aren't you working?" he shouted as his face.

N Gin backs up but answered "Uka uka is asking for you, he wants to meet you in the suggestion room and he doesn't sound happy."

Neo went pale, even though he has been working under Uka uka for years he is still terrified of him. He starts walking towards the suggestion room trying to think what Uka uka could be unhappy about. He didn't think he has done anything wrong when he was fighting against the evil twins, he didn't show any inclinations he wanted to be friends with the inferior bandicoot, but then again this is Uka uka he is thinking of. Nothing ever makes him happy, unless it brings pain unto others that not even Neo can avoid.

'Why am I working for this asshole again?' he got to the suggestion room when he sees Uka uka clearly waiting for him and looks angrier than usual if that was even possible.

"YOU ARE LATE!" roared Uka uka as Neo flinches,

"I-I-I didn't realise I was late for anything." Neo stammered as he slowly goes into the room. Uka uka immediately shuts the door with his powers, charges towards Neo at full speed right at his face and shout,

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU MADE AN EVIL PLAN TO GET RID OF THAT MARSUPIAL PEST?! IT HAS BEEN A WEEK SINCE WE HAD TO TEAM UP WITH THAT THING AND MY GOODY BROTHER WHICH WAS COMPLETE HELL AND I AM NOT SEEING ANY PLANS OR PROGRESS FOR WORLD DOMINATION! ANY REASON WHY?"

The wall behind Neo stops him backing away from Uka uka, making him cower onto the floor. He started stuttering and he couldn't find an excuse, he didn't understand why he couldn't think of an evil plan, not even a single thought for a week.

"I tried to think of something, I really am. Just give me another week or at least two days and I will come up with something. Something that will get rid of Crash Bandicoot." He tries to sound confident but his voice still shakes from fear still getting looked down by the evil mask himself.

"You better, otherwise there will be severe consequences." He growled in a threatening tone.

"H-h-h-how severe?" he can't help but imagine the worst if he fails his plans on world domination again. Would it be torture? Death?

"So severe that it will even hurt the people you love" Uka uka said with an evil smile. Neo is confused. He doesn't love anyone. He can't think of anyone that are his friends, not even his own colleagues.

"What? I don't like anyone. You can do whatever you want with N. Gin, Tropy, Brio or any of those stupid mutants. I don't care about them."

Again, the evil chuckle came as Uka uka continues in a low, threatening voice,

"I was talking about your dear niece, Cortex." That brought Neo's attention. He looks back at Uka uka with a horrifying expression.

"No." he whispered with his eyes glittering. "Please don't hurt Nina. She is the only thing I have."

"Then you better think of a successful plan to bring evil power into the world otherwise. You won't have a niece anymore. You have a week" He said the last part in a sinister tone, obviously hinting terrible things to Nina. Neo is in distraught. Has no idea what to do except to do as he was told. He left the room with his tail between his legs and try to think of a plan to save the only family member he has. He is walking back to his till he stops outside Nina's room, making sure she is still asleep.

'She is just a child. I can't have Uka uka get a hold on her.' He quietly closes the door and heads for his bedroom. As he gets in, he kneels at the side of the bed to get a cardboard box from under the bed and open it to get a framed black and white photo out. The photo has a younger looking version of himself being hugged by a slender woman with long black hair and a black dress and in his arms was a tiny baby with buck teeth. All of them looking incredibly happy. He sits down on the bed just staring at the photo.

"Nadia, how do I protect our daughter?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Four days has past and Dr Cortex still can't think of an evil plan that can satisfy Uka uka. He knows there is only a limited time yet and he can't imagine what would happen to Nina if he fails. But after he defeated the Evil Twins with Crash and Nina, he doesn't want to continue this evil charade and the only reason why he kept up with it for so long is because he is terrified of him. Now he is feeling exhausted, scared out of his mind and feeling sick from the stress he has been going through and he can't stand it any longer. Nina is his top priority he needs to get her out of here away from Uka uka so he won't cause her any harm.

He starts thinking of where he can take her, he knows he can't take her back to Madame Amberley's Academy because that will be the first thing he will look, and he can't trust any of his colleagues with his daughter because of their loyalty to that monster. But there is one place he could take her to that Uka uka would never expect her to be. He immediately got up and head straight to living area where he can hear Nina and his mutants. He sees Tiny giving Nina a piggy back ride along with Dingodile, Ripper Roo and even Pinstripe laughing and having fun together. Neo can't help but smile at the scene. Nina always loves the mutants and the mutants loves Nina. He clears his throat to get their attention and Nina saw him,

"UNCLE!" she runs over to him and gives him a massive hug, crushing Cortex from her big metal hands.

Cortex can't help but give her a smile on how innocent she is, even though he is a little hurt that she called him 'Uncle' and not 'Dad' it is better this way to keep her safe. She let go of him, still has a big smile on her face.

"How are you? I felt like I haven't seen you in forever despite living in the same building! Are you still making plans for world domination?!" she asked with hope in her eyes. She shows obvious admiration for her Uncle. How could anyone think of hurting her? She is just a child. Neo decided to take his plan into action right now.

"Sort of. But I decided that we should visit an old friend of mine and I am sure he would like to see you too." Nina's face light up.

"Really? Who are we seeing?" Nina said bouncing up and down with a huge smile on her face. He looks up to see Tiny, Ripper Roo and Pinstripe standing there looking at them with a confused look on their faces, clearly interested in the conversation.

"It's a surprise. Why don't you go pack your bags so we can go over there now?" Nina decided not to question her Uncle any further and do as she told when he is prepared to get questions from his mutants.

"WHERE IS MASTER GOING?" asked Tiny scratching his head. Neo stands there trying to come up with an answer.

"Just to an old friend I know from school, I am going to see him to discuss my latest plans for World Domination." Neo says quite proud with an excuse he came up with.

"Without telling us?" questioned Pinstripe "And you are going to take Nina?" Now Neo has to think of another excuse.

"I..I have to get his confirmation first before we can proceed and I am taking Nina so she can learn and help out with our plans. I want her to follow my footsteps and she needs to start somewhere."

This seems to satisfy the mutants. It seems to make sense and with lots of failures they had we could use all the help we can get.

"What I want you guys to do is to hold the fort and help N. Gin, N. Brio and N. Tropy with anything they need, ok? And don't tell anyone where I have gone to, especially to Uka uka, I want it to be a surprise, do you understand?"

They nod their heads and just went to do their own thing. Neo went straight up to Nina's room to see if she is ready. He also sees she decided to change as well. Instead of her school uniform she is wearing a black sleeveless dress with pink flowers and skulls, small black shoes and has her hair down and puts on a black flower hair clip. She turns around to see Neo,

"I want to look nice for your friend, make a good first impression. I am ready when you are!" she looks around to see Neo doesn't have his bags packed.

"Hey where are your bags?"

'Bless her heart' he thought to himself. "I already packed my bags I loaded them in the airship. Come on, let's go."

Nina got her bags and hold Neo 's hand as they go upstairs to the roof where the airship is being parked. They got inside and Neo started the engine, hovering over the roof and then takes off. Neo looks up at the rear-view mirror to see Nina bouncing up and down while looking out at the window. Staring at the scenery in wonderment as she is looking at the sea and the cloudless sky, until they are over an island, full of sandy beaches and fields and trees. The air ship hovers slowly onto the ground in the middle of the jungle and he turned off the engine.

"Nina I am going to be honest. I am not going to stay here with you. You are going to stay here; I don't know for how long, but it is going to be a long time." Nina can't believe what she is hearing. Tears are starting to form in her eyes.

"Are you abandoning me?" Neo looks shocked

"NO! No that is not what is happening! I will never abandon you. The reason why I am leaving you here is because you are not safe in the labs, and I want to protect you as much as I can, even if it means doing something that could put me in danger."

"You are in danger? From who?" Nina asked. Neo knows there is no way of avoiding this and decides to just tell her the truth to make her understand.

"Both of us are in danger. From Uka uka." Now Nina is shaking with fear. She does not like Uka uka for one bit and just thinking about him makes her go pale.

"If you are in danger as well then why not stay with us?" she asked.

"Because I know he is going to come looking for me and if I stay with you and a friend then he will hurt you too, and I don't want that to happen. I rather he hurts me than you any day. Especially after what he did." This peaked Nina's interest. She knows Uka uka has done horrible things in his life, but she is curious about what he did specifically to Neo.

"What did he do?" she whispered, fearing to hear the answer.

"Nothing" he said abruptly as he jumps back to reality. "Come on, grab your bags." He unbuckled his seatbelt and gets up to take Nina's hand and her suitcase. They got out of the airship and start making their way down the path.

"So, I am going to stay with a complete stranger? Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked with uncertainty in her eyes. This is all too much for Nina to handle, until she sees a cute little bungalow a few feet away from them. They got to the front door where Neo set the suitcase down.

"He is not a stranger. You have met him before." He said as he knocked on the door.

"And you are going back to the labs?"

"No. I am going somewhere else." Now this really confused Nina.

She was about to ask 'Where' when the door open to reveal Crash Bandicoot. He looks surprised and confused by these unexpected visitors, but Neo just said one thing.

"Help us."

**Wow! You guys! I wasn't expecting reviews let alone positive ones. Thank you for the kind words and how much you enjoy the story so far and I hope chapter 2 is good for you just as much as chapter 1. Hearing you guys to say you love it really builds my confidence and motivate me to not only this story but on other writing projects that I have been working on as well. So again, thank you so much. Keep an open mind I don't have a schedule for this story, I just do it when I want to relax while continue to write but I will try to keep it updated. Also if you want to see the dress Nina is wearing, here is the link **** . /XUANSHOW-Women-Gothic-Dress-Floral-Skull-Print-Sleeveless-Vintage-Backless-A-Line-Cute-Elegant-Party-Beach-2018-Summer-Vestios-PSYT24702/p_2928/**** I just thought it looks super cute. **

**Anyway guys, Keep Reading! :D 3 **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Crash is surprised and shocked to see Neo and Nina standing at his front door unarmed and asking for help. He scratched his head in confusion and about to ask what is going on when he hears a voice behind him.

"Crash!" he turns to his sister Coco running up to him.

"Who's at the door big brother?" she looks at the visitors and when she saw who it is, the smile wipes off her face entirely, then she looks furious. All Neo could do was give a strained smile while Nina just stands there awkwardly. She doesn't know Coco that well, heck she hasn't seen her before, but she can tell she doesn't like them just from the scowl on her face.

"What do you want Cortex? You better not be thinking of kidnapping my brother again!" shouted Coco as she steps in front of Crash, crossing her arms in a defensive stance.

"I didn't kidnapped Crash; we were working together!" that accusation frustrated Cortex to the point he was rubbing his head.

"But that is not the point, I have a favour to ask you and it is urgent. Please." Cortex said clearly begging for their help. Nina has never seen her Uncle like this, but Coco just scoffed,

"After everything you had done to us! Why the hell should we help you?!" Coco shouted going right at his face, poking at him. "You kidnapped us! Deceived us! Brainwashed us and tried to kill us! Give us one good reason why we should help you?!" Coco shouted at Cortex, both forgotten Nina was there almost in tears until Crash came over to comfort her.

"What is going on here?" a calming deep voice stop the fight as they turn to see Aku aku floating towards them.

"Is everything alright? I hear shouting-"he cuts himself off as he sees Neo and Nina here as well. Neo will not admit this, but he is so elated to see Aku aku here to stop the fight, to see someone reasonable who could listen to him.

"Aku aku! This big-headed egotistical maniac think he can come over to our house and ask for help! Can you believe that?" Aku aku looks over at Neo to see Nina is with him as well with her travel bag. He can tell that something has happened as Neo looks distress, but instead of listening to Coco's reasoning he just smiles at Nina. He remembered working with Nina and he finds her to be quite shy but when she breaks out of her shell, she is quite charming. He floats up to greet her,

"Hello Nina. How are you today?" Nina couldn't believe this is Uka uka's brother. He is the complete opposite and extremely kind, but he is still a magical mask who is powerful and should be respected so she just gives a little curtsy.

"And what brings you here Cortex? Coco said you need help?"

Cortex takes a deep breath before he answers,

"Yes, but can we talk about this in private? Its to do with your brother."

Coco was about to protest when Aku aku silence her with a look.

"Very well. We can discuss this in the kitchen. Do come in." Everyone decides to follow Aku aku into the house where they see where they see Crunch doing exercises in the living area. He looks up to see not only his family but also the Cortexes. He is shocked to see them and curious to know why they are here.

"Cortex we can talk in private in the kitchen" Aku aku says as he floats towards the kitchen. Neo turn towards Nina,

"Alright Nina you stay here with the Bandicoots while I go talk to Aku aku, ok?" he says as he gives her a hug and then follows Aku aku. Nina turns around to see the three bandicoots looking at her. Crash stands there smiling at her with a grin on his face, Coco still looks displease and Crunch is confused about the whole situation.

"Sit down Cortex and tell me, what made you decide to come here and warn me about Uka uka?" Aku aku asks as he starts making tea for him, but all Neo can do is give an exasperated sigh before he starts speaking,

"He has threatened to do something to Nina if I don't think of a successful plan to take over the world." Aku aku doesn't know whether to be shock or not. Yes, Uka uka is evil but would he hurt a child? Neo continues,

"Ever since I worked with you and Crash I just can't think of an evil plan and by the day it keeps getting harder and harder, and now I realise Nina is my top priority and I need to get her away from Uka uka before he does anything."

"And you brought her here?" Aku aku questions,

"As far as he knows, Crash is my arch enemy so he wouldn't think twice of me bringing Nina here. That is the favour I want to ask, for you guys to take care of Nina."

"You want us to take care of Nina? You are not thinking of going back to the labs, are you? If Uka uka has no problem hurting a child such as Nina, then he will have no problems hurting you in every single way. Remember Nadia?" Neo just gives him a dark look for saying that name. Aku aku immediately regrets it.

"Right. Sorry for bringing that up."

"I am very aware of what he did to her and I am not going to let that happen again. Better he does that to me than to Nina. Besides I am not going back. I am going somewhere else, so that if he does come looking for me, he won't get Nina." Aku aku is unsure about this plan and is scared for Neo since he knows how dangerous Uka uka is.

"Are you thinking of going to see her?" Aku aku asks. Neo just suddenly went quiet which is enough of an answer for the mask.

"Alright. We will take care of Nina and I will protect her to the best of my ability." Neo gives him an appreciative smile.

"Thank you. This means a lot. Let me just say goodbye to Nina before I leave." He turns to leave the kitchen.

"Neo!" Aku aku called out making Neo turn to face him.

"Does he know Nina is actually your daughter?" Neo just look at Aku aku straight at the eyes and shook his head before walking out.

As he got through the door, he sees Crash entertaining Nina by juggling wumpa fruit and failing miserably by having the fruit dropping on his head causing Nina to laugh. Coco just keep to herself with her laptop and Crunch gone back to his exercises. All of them stop what they were doing when they noticed Neo and Aku aku in the room.

"Children, it has been decided that Nina is going to stay with us under my protection. We fear that Uka uka might be looking for her and we need to keep her safe as best we can." Crash is happy with the news as he gives her a one-armed hug and Crunch seems to be happy with it, but Coco isn't.

"We have to take care of a Cortex?! Have you forgotten what he has done to us, and now we have to take care of….HER!?" She shouted, pointing her finger at Nina who is obviously hurt by her words, making Neo extremely angry.

"I am aware what Cortex has done but it is not her fault she is a Cortex. She is a child who is in danger by my very powerful brother, and I will do whatever it takes to protect any innocent person against Uka uka, even if she is related to an evil scientist. Is that clear?" Aku aku said calmly but firmly to Coco as she just sighs in defeat.

"Fine." She turns towards Nina "But that doesn't mean I have to like you, ok?" Nina just goes quiet and nods her head.

"Good." She said before going back to her laptop.

"Well, I best get going." Neo said to Aku aku. Nina heard this, she immediately runs towards him, giving him a big hug.

"Are you going to come back?" she said with tears in her eyes.

"Of course, and then when I come back, we can go to an amusement park together. I heard one just recently been opened called Von Clutch's Motorworld. How about that?" this puts a smile on Nina's face as she lets go of him. Then he sees Crash putting his hand on Nina's shoulder to show he is there for her while giving Neo a thumbs up. He gives Crash a grateful smile as he goes out of the house to leave, Nina runs through the door after him to watch walk into the jungle and disappears.

"Come on Nina. Let us show you to your room." Aku aku said, guiding Nina back into the house.

"WHERE IS HE!?" Uka uka shouted at all the mutants who are backed up at the wall, shivering in fear.

"IT HAS BEEN ALMOST A WEEK AND THERE IS STILL NO PLAN! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE HE IS NOW!"

Tiny started to break down crying,

"MASTER IS GONE!" Dingodile just shoved him and whispered,

"Mate, we promised not to say anything."

"BUT TINY IS SCARED OF SCARY MASK!" Tiny suddenly be pulled towards Uka uka with extreme force, right up to his face.

"Tell me where he is?" he whispered in a threatening tone. "NOW!"

"MASTER JUST SAID HE HAS GONE TO SEE AN OLD FRIEND WITH NINA, BUT DON'T KNOW WHERE! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Tiny just starts crying trying to get out of Uka uka's force.

"Oh, he did, did he? And took Nina with him?" he growled as he drops Tiny to the ground.

"If I may Uka uka, I will be more than happy to find that little Simpsons character and his vampire brat." He turns to see Dr N Tropy, standing tall while puffing his chest out with pride.

"With time travel, I will be able to go back in time to see where Cortex and Nina went and then I can bring them to you so you can give them the punishment they deserve. If I can watch." He said with an evil smirk on his face. Uka uka lets out a dark chuckle.

"Very well. Get to work then and once you capture them. Bring them to me, they will regret ever disobeying me. I will make sure of it." He said the last part in a sinister tone, not realising that N. Gin was watching and listening to them from the doorway.

**Whew! This was a long chapter! I am glad you guys are still enjoying the story :D just to let everyone know I won't be able to update this in a while as I will be away for a few days but thank you for the positive reviews! It means a lot! Also shout out to one reviewer who reminded me that Koala Kong is Russian in case I add him into it. If there is one thing I can't do is write accents but I they are recognizable in this chapter.**

**Anyway guys,**

**Keep Reading! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The sun is breaking from the horizon as the birds started singing from the trees by the small bungalow. Opening the door comes out a big muscled bandicoot, stretching his arms, back and legs to warm up before going putting in his earbuds and start his morning jog. Inside the house lays a blonde, female bandicoot Coco, still sleeping in her pink bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals and her pink laptop open on the bedside table with a sleeping face on it. Coco appears to have an uneasy sleep, tossing and turning while groaning in her sleep causing Pura to wake up from his slumber. He is getting worried and goes over to Coco's be, jumps on it and gently paw on her face to wake her up. He has succeeded as Coco quickly opens her eyes and sees Pura's face up close to hers. She groans in annoyance and just turns away to try and go back to sleep, but she couldn't. She can't help but think but think what a weird dream she had as she can remember it clear as day. She was walking down a dark cave, surrounded by little purple shards of crystals glittering from the walls. She keeps walking and walking until she sees the biggest power crystal she has ever seen, lighting up the entire cave. It looks so beautiful, she can't help but be drawn to it. She inches herself closer and closer towards it until she hears a small voice. A woman's voice. It sounded like it was coming from the giant crystal. Coco strains her ears trying to figure out what the voice is saying. It sounds like it is calling out a name. Then, a hand suddenly slammed from inside the crystal making a smashing sound that causes Coco to jump awake, accidentally pushes Pura off the bed. Coco got up and head straight to the kitchen to find the root of the noise. When she got to the kitchen, she sees Nina in her pink nighty, kneeling down trying to pick the glassthat was smashed on to the floor. Coco forgot Nina is staying with us, still watching her trying and failing picking up the glass from the floor due to her giant metal hands. Nina felt she is being watched and looks up to see Coco watching her with an unreadable expression on her face. She immediately stands up, blushing with embarrassment.

"I am sorry, I just wanted a glass of water but the glass slipped out of my hands." Coco just gives her a look and walks towards the sink to get herself a drink. Nina kneels back down to continue cleaning up when she gasped in pain. A shard of glass sticking out from her knee. She pulls it out and blood starts dripping down her leg. Coco sees this, mentally conflicting whether to help her arch nemesis's niece or not. She caved as she sees Nina's eyes starting to form tears. She tears off a bit of kitchen roll, getting dust pan and brush and walks towards Nina, putting a bit of kitchen roll onto her knee,

"Here. Hold this," she says guiding one of Nina's hands to her knee. With a deep sigh Coco starts cleaning up the glass while Nina just sits there, holding her knee not knowing what to do. She is still awkward around Coco. She obviously shows reluctance with the situation but Nina is still grateful for her to let her stay and help her with the cleaning. In all honesty, she rather deal with an angry blonde bandicoot than an evil all powerful magical mask.

"Can't you just take your hands off?" Coco ask while she is getting up and head for the bin.

"No. I always have them. Uncle says he made them for me so I can protect myself."

Coco can't take it anymore. She slammed the dustpan down and sharply turns towards Nina.

"You know your Uncle is an evil man, right? You can not be that stupid! How can you look up to a greedy, selfish and a cowardly man who only wants power for himself. And you genuinely believe he cut off your hands and replace them with giant gauntlets for you? When you can't even use them to get a glass of water? I am sorry but I don't believe that for a second!"

Nina was shocked at first then she becomes furious as she slowly stands up.

"Don't you dare talk about my Uncle like that! He is the only one who stepped up and took care of me from day one! He even stood up against Uka uka when he suggested to get rid of me. I owe him my life." Nina looks down feeling depressed, starting to miss Neo. Coco just sighs,

"Look, when you fought against him for years, witnessing him trying to kill your brother countless of times you can't help but think awful things about him. He is a monster." Suddenly, she is getting a pounding headache. A headache so painful its causing her to collapse on to the floor. Nina immediately ran up to Coco to catch her.

"Are you alright? Coco! Can you hear me!?" Nina shouted at her but Coco couldn't hear anything she said, starting to get flashes of her dream from the previous night. A dark cave, glittering walls, giant purple crystal and a hand, slamming hard from the inside of the crystal, looking like whoever it is it's trying to get out. Everything appears to be the same except she can hear what the voice is shouting in fear.

"Neo!" hand still slamming, trying to get out of the crystal.

"Neo! Ne-co- Coco! Coco!" she felt a hard slap across her face, bringing her back to her house, breathing heavily as her vision starting to go back to normal as she sees Nina's face with a look of worry on her face

"Coco! Are you sick!? You keep screaming my Uncle's name. Shall I go get Aku aku?" Nina asks, still comforting Coco who is trying to figure out what just happened. The back door opens and in comes Crunch who just came back from his morning jog, clearly listening to a cheesy pop song based on his comically bad singing and dancing.

"_Fancy yooouuu yooouu da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da oh yeeeaaahh Fancy yoooouuuuu yooouuu-"_ he slows his singing to a stop and took out his ear buds when he notices Coco and Nina on the floor, glaring at him.

"What?"

Dr N Tropy storms into his lab where it is littered with scraps of metal looking like a junkyard. He slams the door getting ready to start his plan to get rid of Neo Cortex as he can't wait to get his hands on that little dwarf.

"BRIO!" he shouted as a green, goblin like man in a lab coat, swinging from pipe to pipe like a monkey and lands in front of Tropy.

"I need you to do something for me." Brio tilts his head in confusion as Tropy hardly asks him for his help. He can't help but be intrigued.

"When I go visit N. Gin, I need you to turn into a bloodhound and go into Nina and Neo's rooms, get something that heavily smells of them and come back to me. I just invented a new time warp machine that can send me to the location of a specific person I need to fin. In order for this to work I need an object that is full of there DNA, trace to that person that owns that DNA and teleport me to that specific spot. Genius, right?" he asks with an evil chuckle. Brio agrees by chuckling with him, putting his hand in his pocket to take out a little vile of an amber colored liquid. Takes a drop of it and painfully transforms into a bloodhound.

"And when you find the stuff, don't forget to wear your latex gloves before you touch them. We don't want it contaminated with your DNA and have our plans ruined." N Tropy says as he puts latex gloves into Brio's pockets. He opened the door for the hound and follow it out, going down the hall almost skipping along the way till he stops outside the door that says 'Keep Out! Beware: !' Tropy just rolls his eyes and knock on the door.

"Go Away!" shouted the man from the other side of the door when Tropy just clears his throat.

"It's me Nikolas, Nefarious. May I come in?" There was a little pause before the sound of unlocking coming from inside. N. Gin slowly opens the door to reveal his face. Still has a missile throbbing in his head but it looks like it is sinking deeper, his skin has a grey tone and grey strands in his hair.

"Hello D-D-Dr Tropy, what brings you here?" N. Gin asks to invite Tropy in and just goes to continue his work.

"What? Do I need a reason to see my little gingerbread?" he glides smoothly towards N. Gin and puts his arm around his shoulders. N. Gin can't help but blush at this but he is not fooled, he knows Tropy wants something. Tropy continues,

"I was just wondering if you would like to go out for dinner sometime? Dinner, under the stars, just you and me. What do you say?" It sounds tempting. Too tempting which makes N. Gin become suspicious of this offer.

"That s-s-sounds nice."

"That's what I thought, there is just one thing though." Even though N. Gin knows he wants something out of this, he can't help but be a little disappointed.

"W-w-w-what?"

"I just need to know where Cortex and his dear niece are. I am just so worried about them." Over dramatized by putting the back of his hand onto his forehead trying to look upset as he possibly can.

"Oh. Dr C-c-c-cortex and Nina are out I am afraid. I don't know when they will be back." Tropy pretends to be surprised by this,

"That's alright. He is probably taking that angel out for a day." he says gritting his teeth when he said 'angel'

"I can go find him myself," he inches closer to N. Gin, causing him to back into a wall,

"You just have to tell me where they are," he whispered making N. Gin squirm,

"If you tell me, I can give you anything you desire." Tropy is aware of N. Gin's crush on him since their school days, and it disgusts him but he can control him, making him do whatever he wants and he likes that kind of power. N. Gin gently pushes him back,

"S-s-s-sorry, I don't know where they are. We can go out some other time." N. Gin says trying to distract himself with work. Tropy is a little disappointed that his flirty manipulation didn't work, but decided to let it go.

"Very well, I shall leave you to it." he says as he turns to walk out the room. N. Gin can't help but look back at the door Tropy just went through, looking exceedingly worried.

Dr N. Tropy came back into his lab with a big sigh, but he went from disappointment to curious as he sees Brio in his normal form with a cardboard box full of stuff.

"Hellooo, what have we here?" he got his latex gloves and start looking through the stuff inside the box. The first thing he notices is a black and white framed photograph of the young Dr Neo Cortex, a woman and a baby, all of them smiling at the camera in front of their house. He can't help but look at the beautiful, slender woman, smirking a little. However, he notices something familiar with the baby but he can't place his finger on it.

"This photograph will be perfect. I can imagine him looking at this every night." He is about to get up when something caught his eye. A folded pink paper, neatly in the box. Tropy doesn't know why but he thinks it might hold vital information. He takes it out the box and what he reads shocks, then he smiles evilly.

"Oh. Oh now this is very interesting. Uka uka would want to know this," and put the paper inside his pocket.

**A cliffhanger! I actually had so much fun writing this chapter so I hope you guys had fun reading it! XD I am sorry it took so long, I won't lie ****I was in a stump but hopefully I could get the story going. If you guys want to know what song Crunch was singing too, its called Fancy by Twice, here is the link: **** watch?v=kOHB85vDuow. ****I also noticed a few mistakes while re reading the previous chapters so I will go back and do some tweaking. **

**Anyway guys,**

**Keep Reading! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Crash walks into the living room with a glass of water in his hand, setting it down on the coffee table in front of Coco who is sitting between Crunch and Nina, still shaking from the vision this morning.

"Nina told me what happened." Aku aku said calmly.

"She said you collapsed on the kitchen floor while screaming Cortex's name." Crash and Crunch is alarmed by the news and looks at Coco for answers while she is continuing to drink her water.

"I wasn't the one shouting _his _name. It was someone in the giant crystal." Now everyone is just confused and look at each other, seeing if they know what Coco is talking about.

"What giant crystal, little sis_?" _Crunch asks.

"The giant crystal that came up in my vision this morning. It was also in my dream last night."

"You had a dream about this?" ask Aku aku.

"Yes!" she shouted as she abruptly stands up looking desperate to get the story through to her family.

"I was in a dark cave with shards of crystal shining on the walls and then I hear a voice calling from the giant crystal from the other end of the cave and something slammed from the crystal, it looks like it needs help or trying to get out. Keep shouting that awful name it's driving me insane!" she screamed as others just stay silent through her rant, scared to say a word about the situation.

"I am telling the truth! Why don't you believe me!?" Coco shouted. Aku aku decides to step in to stop her outburst,

"We do believe you, my child. But I think you need to take it easy and rest today. Crunch, can you take her to bed please?" Crunch gets up and guides Coco out the living room while she is muttering to herself. Crash walks up to Aku aku and just nod his head at Coco's direction. With a sigh Aku aku said,

"I don't know Crash. However, there is a way to help her but I am worried it will cause her more harm than good and I will only do it if it's an emergency. Until then, all we can do is monitor her and see if she will get better or worse." Aku aku left as Crash is still worried for his little sister.

As night fallen, Nina is already in a slumber when she hears cries from outside the house. She stirs awake and slowly sit up to look out the window above her to see if she can see anyone. It's Coco, with messed up hair and pink pyjamas calling out for Neo. Nina immediately got out of bed and ran out her room, almost bumping into Crash in the hall. She burst out through the front door to find Coco.

"NEO!" she hears Coco shouting. Follows the voice to find Coco round the corner. Exactly where she found her.

"Coco! What are you doing outside!?" Nina asks, trying to grab Coco by the arms so she can escort her back inside, but Coco just shake her off and continues to shout,

"NEO! Neo, where are you!?" Nina is getting worried for Coco. She turns her around and about to slap her like she did before, only to realise that Coco's eyes aren't emerald green like they should be. They are purple, like shards of power crystal in her eyes, glittering from tears. Another thing that caught Nina off guard about Coco is the look she gives her, like she is happy to see her.

"Nina? Is that really you?" Coco whispered as she reaches out to hold her face. Nina doesn't know what it is but the way she said that doesn't feel like it was Coco who is talking. All of a sudden, Coco rolled her eyes back and collapsed into Nina's arms. She sees Crash running up to them take Coco and carry her back into the house with Nina following him, wondering what is happening to Coco.

On that very night, Cortex's airship flies over Madame Amberley's Academy of Evil where he sees a memorial happening on the courtyard with a framed picture of Madame Amberley desplayed on the side of the building. Neo has no regrets killing her since she had done nothing but torment and ridicule him throughout his childhood. He just shakes his head and continue to fly over the school towards the outskirts where he hovers in front of of a cemetary till it lands. The door to his airship lowers down to form a platform so he can walk down to the ground. He is wearing a black coat, holding a bouquet of red roses and a violin case. He goes through a squeaky gate and walk down the path until he sees a tombstone he was looking for:

**NADIA CORTEX**

14th July 1966 - 24th December 1994

_A fallen angel who has gone back to heaven_

He set the roses down onto the grave and take his slim, black violin out of his case and start playing a slow melody. It starts soft but the volume starts to build up as it hits the chorus. Neo can't help but have tears running down his cheeks as he continues to play. He remembers playing this piece of music to Nadia back at school. She would watch him play his violin, being drawn to the music, not realising that he was thinking about her when he was writing this music, but he can still remember the twinkle in her amethyst eyes whenever he plays violin for her. He misses those eyes.

He has gone back to reality as he finished the song. Everything went quiet apart from the wind picking up, until he hears slow clapping behind him. He turns around to see Dr N Tropy, still clapping his hands in a sarcastic way.

"Very good performance, _Doctor. _Just a shame she is not around to hear it." he said with a menacingly smug look on his face, walking closer towards Neo who is backing away up to the tombstone, wondering how Tropy knows he will be here. That thought process as he felt a painful electric shock through his body as he collapsed on to the ground. The last thing he sees is Tropy kneeling down in front of him, laughing evilly at him while holding an active tazer at him, then everything fades into black.

**I ****am back! Sorry it took so long as life has happened thanks to Christmas! I do hope you guys are well and I am glad you are still enjoying the story! :D If you guys wondering what Cortex is playing on his violin, it's When you Smile by Adrian Von Zeiglar. Here is the link if you guys are interested watch?v=OQ_swpZbN18****.**

**Anyway guys,**

**Keep Reading! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Dr Neo Cortex is still unconcious from last night's encounter with Dr N Tropy. He is having difficulty waking up until he felt someone trying to shake him awake.

"Master," someone whispers.

"Master, wake up." Cortex stirs awake but can't see anything through his blurry vision. He blinks a couple of times so that his vision becomes clearer where he sees N. Gin n front of him. All of a sudden, he is filled with rage and immediately charge at N. Gin before he realised his hands are chained to the wall behind him. N. Gin takes a step back, in complete shock by his friend's sudden rage.

"You!" Cortex growled.

"You told Tropy where I was, didn't you?" Cortex growled, still pulling from his chains trying to get to N. Gin.

"No master! I didn't! I swear!"

"You are the only one I told what I am going to do, then all of a sudden he knows where I was going to be!" All N. Gin could do is put his hands up, trying to protect himself from Cortex's outburst.

"No Neo, I..." N. in has been cut off when they hear the door open to reveal N. Tropy and Uka uka.

"Hello, _sleeping beauty." _Tropy says sarcastically,

"I do hope you enjoy your sleep. You don't mind if I bring in a visitor, do you?" he said with a smug tone in his voice, pointing towards Uka uka. N. Tropy then looks at N. Gin with contempt.

"What are you doing here? Get out! Neo, Uka uka and I are going to have a little discussion where his dear niece is, or should I say his daughter?" Neo and N. Gin look shock at Tropy who took a pink slip out of his pocket.

"How did you get that!?" Cortex is outraged, trying to attack N. Tropy while struggling against his chains and all N. Gin can do is look at the slip in disbelief.

"Oh. I just found it among wth your other junk." he said nonchantly.

"Including this." he took out a family black and white framed photo of the Cortexes.

"It's such a beautiful picture of you and Nadia, and I presume the little baby is Nina?

Cortex looks desperate,

"Please. That photo is the only thing I have of them." Tropy just look at the photo and then back at Cortex, giving off a small chuckle. He then throws the photo on to the floor and stamp on it, cracking the glass under his foot. Then, he picks up the photo, takes the lighter out of his pocket and set it on fire in front of Cortex.

"No!" Cortex screams as he watches his late wife's face disintergrating before his very eyes. After Tropy shakes te ash off his hands, he slowly walk up to Cortex, taking satisfactory at Cortex's reaction,

"So, are you going to tell me where your little vampire brat is?" Cortex went from shock to angry and spit on Tropy's face.

"I am not telling you anything." Cortex says in a threatening tone. Tropy wipes the spit off his face in disgust and Uka uka just chuckle evily,

"Oh, we will after what I am going to do to you. For DISOBEYING AND BETRAYING ME!" Uka uka shouted close to Cortex's face, while Tropy turns to see N. Gin, still standing by the door.

"What are you still doing here? Get Out!" Tropy shouted

"Y-y-yes Dr Tropy." he turns to leave shen he sees Cortex giving him a dark glare. gave him a pitying look before he leaves.

"Tropy, since you brought Cortex to me, you get to watch me torturing him." Tropy just bows to Uka uka.

"I am going to enjoy this" he says with menacing glee, making Cortex terrified.

N. Gin is scared for Cortex, and for Nina. Judging by how bad and torturous Cortex's screams are from the other side of the door, he can tell they are going to know Nina's whereabouts. He immediately runs to the port and get into the Mecha Bandicoot robot that he still has in his possession and set himself ready to go to the bandicoot's house and warn them about Dr N. Tropy and Uka uka, hopefully they will help. He felt bad for leaving Cortex behind but he knows Cortex wants him to think of Nina first. His two oldest friends did make him her godfather and he promised that if anything happens to her parents, he will be the one to protect her. For Neo, Nadia and Nina.

The next morning in the Bandicoot residence, Coco is still passed out from last night's episode. Crunch is sitting by her side putting a cold, damp cloth on her forehead while Crash and Nina just explained to Aku aku what happened to Coco.

"This is worst than I thought. If something that's depleting her mentality effects her physically, then we need to take drastic measures." Aku aku says with great concern.

"What are you going to do?" Nina ask.

"Something I am hesitant to do. I am going to teleport myself into her mind and find out the real cause of her illness. I didn't want to do it unless it's the last resort as I am worried Coco won't be able to hande having me inside her mind, but I fear I have no choice." Aku aku floats towards Coco.

"Wait!" Nina shouted, causing Aku aku to stop.

"What are you expecting to find?" Nina ask.

"Anything that could help us get Coco back to her normal self." As Crunch took the cloth off to drench it in cold water, Aku aku takes a good look at Coco's face. He can see her breath growing rapidly and sweat still forming on her face, despite been having a cold cloth on her head to try and keep her temperature down.

"She doesn't look good Aku aku." Crunch says solemnly.

"I don't know what else to do." Suddenly Aku aku looks determined,

"Stand back Crunch, I don't want this to effect you too." Crunch looks confused but did as he says, standing with Nina and Crash to watch what Aku aku is going to do. Aku aku took a deep breath and closes his eyes, putting his full attention on Coco, He is surrounding her with golden light and hovering her over the sofa. Then, Aku aku dissappeared into thin air, however Coco is still the same as Aku aku left her. In the golden light, floating in the air, signalling that Aku aku has succeeded. Crunch runs towards her with a panic look on his face,

"Aku aku, are you in there!? Aku aku, can you hear me!?" Crunch shouted at Coco's ear but no response from either Aku aku or Coco. Crunch looks back at Crash and Nina who are just as worried as he is.

Aku aku is starting to feel dizzy and can feel his power drained from the teleportation, but he shakes the dizziness away so he can focus on helping Coco. He looks around a dark cave, seeing reflections of himself from shards of crystals on the walls around him. He continues to fly forward, hoping to find Coco. When he turn round the corner, he sees Coco making him breath a sigh of relief. He quickly flies in front of Coco,

"Coco, are you ok? Listen, we need to find this mysterious force that made you ill." Coco didn't respond, instead she just walks past Aku ku like he is not even there, completely entranced by something and Aku aku doesn't lie the look of it.

"Coco?" Aku aku still feels drained from lack of power so he can't do anything except to follow her, wondering what caused Coco to become this way. They continue down the dark cave until a source of purple light shines onto their eyes from the other end. Aku aku is blinded by it as he turns away from the light, but Coco is not affected and just walks towards the light. Aku aku has no choice but continue to follow her. Closer and closer her can see the outline of the source that looks like a giant power crystal. Closer and closer until Coco stops right in front of it. Aku aku is suddenly mesmorized by its beauty but there is something strange about it that caught Aku aku's attention. It looks like a hand, signalling to come inside the crystal that disturbs Aku aku, but what alarmed him is Coco walking towards the giant power crystal.

"Coco! Coco stay away from the crystal! It's dangerous!" She still didn't hear him as she slowly brings her hand up and moving it forward to touch the hand that's inside the crystal, but as she touches it, it's slowly sucks Coco in while her veins glow bright purple from her arms, causing Coco to scream in immense pain.

"No!" shouts Aku aku as he rushes forward to use the power he has left to pull Coco out of the crystal. The effort is futile as Coco disappears right before his eyes, enraging Aku aku.

"Give her back! Who are you!? What are you!?" his questions are being answered as he sees what look to be a woman inside the crystal. There is something familiar about her, from her long flowing hair to her slender figure, but the one feature that struck Aku aku are her eyes. They are the colour of amethyst that almost blends into the colour of the crystal. He only knows one person that has eyes like that.

"You-" before Aku aku could speak any further, the light of the crystal glows brighter and brighter until it surrounds him, magically teleports him back to the house. As Aku aku collapse to the ground , he breathes out a name before he passes out himself.

"Nadia." Crash, Crunch and Nina try to wake Aku aku up when Coco slowly stirs awake, sitting up with a groan. Crash saw this and rushes up to her with a beaming smile, when he realises that something is different about his little sister. Her eyes are a mixture of dark and light purple with little specks that looks like shards. She looks at them and speaks with a calm voice,

"It's good to see you too, Aku aku."

**My goodness! Sorry for the wait as it took me a while to figure out what is going to happen next and I hope it is satisfactory as I want to give this story some twists, and I do love me some twists. :P as I think about this story further, I realise this is more of a Coco story than a Crash story which I think it is better as she needs more of a spotlight to show how amazing she is along with Nina. So I hope you like this chapter! :D**

**Anyway guys,**

**Keep Reading! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_At Madame Amberley's Academy of Evil, Madame Amberley walks into the classroom, making all the students stand up at her presence. __One of the students is an eighteen year old Neo Cortex who looks bored with the routine and just wants to get to his evolvo ray plans he has in front of him. _

"_May we bring darkness upon this school, Madame Amberley?" the students say in unison._

"_You may." answered Madame Amberley,_

"_Sit down everyone." the students follow orders which Neo is very happy to do so he can continue with his plans. He looks down at all the different designs of his evolvo ray. I figured out the design he just doesn't know how to make animals become mutants, something he needs to experiment later after class. _

"_Before I start ze lesson, we have a new student who is going to be joining us." This caught Neo's attention, wondering why there is a new student in the last year of school. He looks up to see the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. She has long black hair down to her waist, petite figure, light blue skin and amythest eyes that holds no emotion. _

"_Everyone meet Nadia May. She will join us in class from now until the end of the year." Neo can feel his heart beating rapidly, he hasn't felt like this before._

"_Now, vhere to put you?"she looks around to see an empty chair next to Cortex._

"_Ah, there you are my dear, right next to Cry Baby Cortex." she said mockingly making Neo going red with embarrassment. __He sees Nadia coming towards him to sit next to him, set her bag down and taking her books out. Neo is not payng attention to the lesson as he continuously stares at Nadia, feeling like a creep for doing it, however Nadia can feel someone watching her and turns towards Neo, causing him to go red again and quickly turns back to his plans as a distraction, hoping she didn't see him blush. He slowly turns back towards her to see her still staring at him with her piercing eyes, then she looks down to see his designs of the evolvo ray. She takes a closer look at it making Neo embarrassed by his work but he just sit there not doing anything or speaking any words. He watches her take her pen out and start drawing something on his design. He suddenly become curious and look closer to see what she is drawing. She stopped to show her a drawing of a power crystal with an arrow towards the evolvo ray. Neo gives her a confused look but she just smiled back at him, making him melt on the spot. He was about to ask what it is when the school bell rang, signalling the class has ended, bring him back to reality to see Nadia getting up immediately and ran out the door. __He looks down at his plans, looking at the crystal that is drawn with a purple ink, weirdly reminds him of __her__ eyes. When he looks at it closely, he sees there is something written underneath the crystal._

'_Meet me at the courtyard at 3pm.' - NM_

Everything goes white to the present day with Neo still chained up to the wall in the dungeon, his shirt ripped in half and have scars and bruises all over his face and body. He suddenly been kicked awake followed by a snarky voice,

"Having a lovely dream, Sleeping Beauty?" he looks up to see Dr N. Tropy smirking down at him, clearly enjoying seeing how pathetic Neo is. Neo is too tired to deal with Tropy and slowly closes his eyes till he has been kicked again.

"I don't think so _Doctor, _as I have a present I want to show you that I think you will be very interested in. Tiny!" Tiny rushes through the door the minute he heard his name called out.

"Unlock his chains from the walls." he throw the keys at Tiny, "and if he tries to escape, don't hesitate to pin him down or knock him down." Tiny whimpers but continues to follow his orders when Tropy leans down and sinisterly whispers,

"We are going to go on a little trip."

Aku aku is still weak fron the even in Coco's mind, lying on the sofa trying to rest and regain his power with Crunch pacing back and forth in front of him, having no idea what to do in this situation.

"Don't worry Crunch. I will be fine. All I need is rest." Aku aku said weakly.

"If you are sure Aku aku but what about Coco?" He joins Crash and Nina looking at 'Coco' who is looking around the house in complete awe.

"Wow, it has been so long since I have been in this house. So many memories." As she looks around she can see everyone staring at her causing her to blush,

"I am so sorry. I am being incredibly rude. My name is Nadia, I used to live here with my family." she said as Crunch is still looking at her suspiciously.

"So it is you." Aku aku whisperes,

"What is she talking about?" Crunch asks but Aku aku just ignores him and flies straight to Nadia.

"But what happened to you? We all thought you were dead." Nadia looks shocked by this revelation,

"You all thought I died? Who told you?"

"Someone told Neo and then the news spread around. We even arranged a funeral for you." Aku aku answered.

"And where is Neo now?" she asks looking around frantically, hoping to see him.

"He is not here. He left Nina here for safety and then left." Nadia started to breath rapidly as she is still looking around, then her eyes fall onto Nina, her tears are welling up in tears.

"Nina," she whisperes,

"My dear, look how much you've grown." she walks towards her but is stopped by Crash who is stading between them, clearly doesn't trust the person who is possessing his little sister.

"Now look here little lady. You came here, possessed our little sister and you think an apology is going to make us trust you from the start? You better give us a good explanation for all of this." Crunch says sternly, crossing his arms to show he is serious. She looks to Aku aku for help but she can see she also wants an explanation.

"Well...you see-" she got cut off when they hear crash right outide the front door. Everyone run outsde to see something they remember vividly from their last adventure. It's MegaBandicoot, lying on its front with smoke coming out of it. They run up to it to see N. Gin wobbling out of the machine, clearly effected by the crash.

"N. Gin!" Nina shouted, "Ginny!" shouted Nadia, as they ran up to N. Gin, both of them giving him a massive hug.

"Ginny? No one calls me by that name except-" N. Gin says looking suspiciously at Coco.

"Yes Ginny. It's me." Nadia says as Nina slowly backs away from her, still unsure about this person.

"And what are you doing here? Coming to attack us with that thing again? You two stay away from him, he is dangerous!" Crunch shouted as him and Crash are ready to attack N. Gin. N. Gin just put his hands up to show he is unarmed and means no harm.

"What are you talking about? He is my friend!" she shouted as Aku aku flies inbetween everyone before the conflict goes any further.

"Alright everyone, calm down. Obviously lots of things has happened that needs some explaining before we jump to any conclusions. N. Gin, I can see you are unarmed, so why did you come all the way here?" N. Gin lets out a big sigh before he speaks,

"It's Dr Cortex. Somehow N. Tropy found him and now him and Uka uka held him hostage and torturing him." he looks to Nina who has fear in her eyes,

"They are looking for you, Nina."

**I am so sorry it took so long as a lot of things has happened thanks to Christmas, work and dealing with my anxiety, however I do hope you enjoyed the christmas one shot so there will be christmas air into the Crash Bandicoot Fanfiction Community. I hope this chapter isn't too fast pace but I will try to slow it down with the future chapters as I have a few ideas for them. Also, on my profile I have a Short story blog that I started this year. I already put a first story on it so do check it out. I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it.**

**Keep Reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Everyone gathers round the living area in the Bandicoot's house to talk to Nadia and N. Gin. starts with his story,

"I don't know how but Dr Tropy somehow managed to find Dr Cortex and brought him back as a hostage. When they lock him up, him and Uka uka started torturing him to get information on where Nina is. He didn't crack but who knows how long that it will last." he turns to Nina.

"That's why I came straight here. I promised your pa- I mean your Uncle that if anything happened to him I will come and protect you." Nadia just look at N. Gin with confusion and shock.

"Then we got to go and help him!" Nina says, immediately stands up and ready to go out the door when Aku aku stop her.

"Hang on Nina, I know you want to save your Uncle but we can't just jump into action without a plan. Dr Tropy is cunning, sinister and holds no mercy to anyone who he believes are below him, besides we have yet to hear Nadia's story." Everyone turns to Nadia who is still in Coco's body, her eyes still filled with shock.

"Nadia?" she hears Aku aku's calm voice, bringing her back to reality, then she sees everyone looking at her with suspicion in their eyes. She takes a minute to process what she heard before she is able to speak. She clears her throat when Crunch interrupted,

"First off, I want to know who you are and why are you possessing Coco. I am sorry to be abrupt but I don't trust you." Crash also crosses his arms with a serious face to show he agrees with Crunch.

"Well to start with I am Neo's wife, Nadia." That first statement caught Crunch and Crash off guard.

"Us along with Ginny came to the N. Sanity Islands to research on power crystals and how they can help with our inventions and if they are the source to anything supernatural or abnormal on the Islands. When we were looking around for any power crystals that's when we met Aku aku. When we first met him, I thought he was some kind of demon so I ended up throwing my stuff at him." she said with a laugh with Aku aku joining in sharing the memory, Nina is growing impatient,

"Not to be rude but can you hurry up with your story? My Uncle is getting tortured!"

"Right. Well long story short, I personally went and found the source of the crystals years later, but then something happened which I unfortuntely can't remember but all of a sudden everything is purple. I was confused until I realised I am actually still trapped inside the power crystal. I constantly scream for help for years, it's hell in there, until recently I am starting to absorb the power from the crystal and see if I can use it to my advantage. See if I can reach to my husband, Ginny or anyone, but the only person I can reach is Coco," she turns to give Aku aku an apologetic look.

"I am so sorry about that disturbing display in Coco's mind but I am extremely desperate. It's Neo I actually want to call but for some reason I can only reach out to Coco."

"Do you know how Coco is?" Nadia nods her head,

"Yes she is fine" she says with a smile.

"She is asleep at the moment and when she wakes up I will tell her what happened and then bring her back. She has a strong will." Aku aku agrees.

"Yes she has. Right, now that we understand what as happened, it is time to think of a plan. Find a way to save both Neo and Nadia. Any suggestions?" Then Nadia stands up,

"Well I can hear Coco waking up so I will go to her room, catch her up what is happening and then go to sleep so she can come back when she wakes up as I feel like she is more useful than I am." Nina runs up to her,

"Are you going to come back Auntie?" Nadia looks hurt but answers anyway,

"Of course, I will come back if you need me. I don't want Coco to go through than she already does." Aku aku speaks up,

"I am just glad you are back and if you need anything don't hesitate to come back." She looks around to see Crash, Crunch and N. Gin giving her reassuring smiles but Nina still looks a little worried.

"Don't worry Nina. Your...Uncle is going to be fine. We will save him, but before I bring Coco back, can I talk to N. Gin real quick?" Nadia asks.

"Of course. " said Aku aku,

"I am sure you two have a lot to talk about." Aku aku floats away as Nina gives Nadia a light hug before running off to Crash. Nadia signal N. Gin to the kitchen to talk privately with him.

"Wow. I can't believe you are back. After we save Neo we should hang out together like the old days." N. Gin nervously ramble.

"Nikolas, what has been going on here? Why does Nina see Neo as her Uncle? And Tropy is here?" Nadia is obviously frantic but N. Gin puts his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"It's a long story," Nadia crosses her arms to show she has time to hear what N. Gin has to say.

"Look, all I can say is after you 'died,' Neo hasn't been the same. He went mad Nadia where he caused a lot of hurt, made bad decisions and even created wars where the bandicoots have to get involved."

She turns to Nina to see her playing with Crash and Crunch playing happily together.

"And Nina?" with another sigh N. Gin continues,

"He brought her here to protect her from Uka uka," that name makes Nadia grow pale.

"They are torturing him to make him tell them where she is because he wasn't thinking of any plans that could satisfy Uka uka." Nadia is terrified for Neo as she knows how ruthless and merciless Uka uka can be when it comes to getting what he wants.

"Nadia, we will get him back. I promise." Nadia gives N. Gin a grateful smile.

"Well, I best go to bed so that Coco can come back. I will see you whenever Ginny." She opens her arms out to welcome him in a hug, which N. Gin happily receives.

"I have missed you," he said with tears in his eyes. "We all have."

Nadia enters into Coco's room, slowly walks in and looks around at all the pictures on the walls. She sees pictures of Crash and Coco growing up with Aku aku and then sees Crunch becoming part of the family. No Neo, Nadia or even N. Gin in sight which she can't help but have tears prickling her eyes.

"Hello? Um… Mrs Cortex?" a voice in her head speaks out, it was Coco.

"Would I be able to come out now?" she said with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Yes. Sorry. I was just looking at your photos." she said still looking at the photos and can't help but smile at how happy they are.

"Are you ok?" Coco asks.

"Yes. Sorry. I am going to bed now, and dear call me Nadia."

"Ok Nadia." she gets into bed, tuck herself in and about to drift off to sleep.

"Hey Nadia? Can I ask you something?" Coco asks but Nadia just laughs,

"You just did, but you can ask me another one."

"What do you see in Dr Cortex?" That question makes Nadia smile as she is starting to remember Neo.

"One thing you will find surprising about Neo, he is a hopeless romantic." Coco couldn't believe her ears,

"What? Really?"

"Yes." Nadia says with a laugh, "In fact he like to express himself with music. He can play both the violin and the piano along with writing music. In fact, we had our first kiss after he serenaded me with a violin."

"Ok, TMI. Too much info. Just ew!" Coco starts to make gagging noises which makes Nadia laugh even harder.

"Well you did ask."

"But wow. I just see him as an evil scientist, I didn't think he would have a romantic side. You learn something new everyday."

"And I am sure during time you are going to learn more about other people I am sure. Anyway Coco, I am going to sleep and you will be the one to wake up tomorrow. Goodnight Coco." she closes her eyes and slowly drifts into a peaceful sleep.

"Goodnight Nadia."

**OMG guys! I am sorry about what happened. To be honest it's not as bad as I thought as I managed to get the story out of that catastrophe, copy and pasteit into the document and try to put it into the fanfiction the normal way, but from now on I will check if the document has been imported correctly before making it public. The reason why I couldn't fix it straight away is because I have been having issues with my computer and the Fanfiction mobile is very inconsistant. So I had to use my bf's laptop. But it is all fixed and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again I am truly sorry!**

**Keep Reading! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_Darkness. Darkness surrounds her. She can feel her heart beating rapidly against her chest. She wants to get out, struggling against the restraints, digging into her wrists and ankles. She tries to scream for help but it comes out muffled. She wants to go home. Then, the lights comes on, showing her a bright, white empty room. Everything completely blurry with bright lights shining down on her. She hears the door open and close, followed by footsteps getting louder till she sees blurry visions of two figures. The guy on the left, setting up the tools looks like he has a buzz cut wearing a lab coat and the guy on the right is tall with blue skin, also looking like he is wearing a lab coat. She can immediately tell who that is, making her struggle and scream even more, desperate to get away from him. The blue figure strokes her face, _

"_Shh, it's ok my pet. I am doing this for us." he said. He slowly leans down and whisper in her ear,_

"_We will be together forever," he kisses her on the cheek as she tries to scream loudly with tears streaming down her cheeks. _

"_Put her to sleep." She looks at his assistant, despite her blurry vision, she can tell he took out a needle and slowly pointing it towards her neck, making her scream even more. _

Coco shot up, breathing heavily and feeling the tears streaming down her cheeks. She takes deep breaths, trying to calm down and starts thinking about the nightmare she had,

'Was that Tropy?' she thought feeling sick, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead. Once she controls her nausea feeling she gets up to look herself in the mirror, seeing her emerald green, bloodshot eyes looking back at her. She gets her tissues to dry her eyes when she can feel Pura rubbing his head against her leg, looking up at her extremely worried. She stroke his head and close her eyes, to see if Nadia is awake. She can see she is having an uneasy sleep and decides to leave her be to get ready. She goes out of her room to see the house is still dark with early morning sunrise as source of light. She hears someone snoring from the living room, goes in to see N. Gin sleeping on the sofa, almost slipping off. Coco look at him in disgust then looks out the window to see MegaBandicoot still lying on the ground covered in dirt. She lets out a long sigh, ties her hair back and goes out the front door, ready to work on the machine.

Hours have passed as the sun slowly rises up. N. Gin is starting to wake up and hear someone outside and can see Crunch in the kitchen standing over the stove, frying some breakfast. He looks out the window to see Coco working on MechaBandicoot, so he immediately got up and run out the door to see Coco with messed up hair and covered in dirt and oil. N. Gin slowly walks towards her, wondering if it's Coco or Nadia.

"Nadia?" Coco turns around to face him where N. Gin can see it is Coco based on her green eyes, clearly annoyed by him already.

"Oh. Sorry." He feels awkward being under Coco's scrutinizing look. She slowly returns to her work while N. Gin just stands there fidgeting with his hands.

"So, how is it looking?" he asks,

"After you attacking Crash with this, plus being used to defeat the evil twins and you piloting over here and skid it, it's really beaten up. But, I managed to make it move its arms, along with getting the chainsaw to work. Just need to figure out how to make it shoot from his nozzle." N. Gin's head shot up,

"I can help with that." he climbs up to MechaBandicoot's head and open it up.

"See this little compartment? That's where you store up the plasma ammo, however it looks like it's ran out and I only have ammo back at the labs." Coco looks downhearted until she sees Crunch calling them over,

"Breakfast is ready! Come and Eat!" N. Gin and Coco jumps off the machine and goes inside the house to see Crunch setting up the table with Crash, Nina and Aku aku sitting around the table. Coco went to sit next to Crash while N. Gin goes to sit next to Nina who is busy looking at Coco's eyes to see what colour they are, much to Coco's annoyance.

"Alright everyone. While we have breakfast, we must discuss what we can do to save Neo and Nadia." Nina decides to speak up,

"Would it be possible to go back to my Uncle's labs? We can save my Uncle and maybe he knows where Auntie Nadia last went." Aku aku nodded,

"That sounds like a good idea Nina, but the problem is we don't have any vehicles to get there." This made Nina a little disheartened.

"Hang on," Crunch speaks up,

"I saw Coco and Rocket Man here fixing that heap of junk outside." Crash's ears shot up out of interest looking excited by the news.

"Junk!?" N. Gin shouted and looks like he is about to protest but Coco intercepted,

"That's true, but all I did is the arms. We haven't tested anything else to see if they are safe to work." This made Nina angry,

"And you can't work any faster!?" her outburst shocks everyone but made Coco angry,

"I worked on it all morning by myself!" Coco retaliates.

"If you think you can work at it better than I can, be my guest!" Crash puts his hand on his sister's back to calm her down while Nina looks down, regretting her outburst.

"I am sorry, I am just worried about them that's all. I am grateful for what you have done and if you want I can help you with it. My Uncle and N. Gin taught me a bit about robotics." Coco felt a little guilty and about to say something when Aku aku interrupted,

"Any help is more than welcome Nina and when MechaBandicoot is up and running we will be able to save your family." she looks behind him to see Crash giving her a thumbs up, making Nina feel a little better.

Neo is getting exhausted, hungry and thirsty. He feels like they have been walking for hours as he is constantly being dragged by Tiny with Tropy proudly walking in front of them and having Uka uka floating around. They are treading over the rocky shore as the storms is coming towards them until they get to the entrance of a dark cave.

"What are we doing here?" Neo asks which earns him a shock from Uka uka, making him scream in pain.

"Patience. It will all be worth it." Tropy says with an evil smile. Making Neo uneasy. They walk into the dark abyss with only Uka uka's aura to light up the cave. After what felt like hours, they start to see a purple light at the other end of a tunnel. Neo can tell it is a power crystal but it is brighter than normal. He looks at Tropy to see a mad glint in his eyes while gazing at that direction.

"Come!" Tropy shouted, leading everyone down the tunnel with Tiny still pulling Neo by his chains. They got to the area where the light is blinding them, making it hard to see what it actually is. Tropy holds up his tuning fork, making it absorb the light to make it less blinding and what's in front of them shock Neo. He sees an enormous power crystal in front of him but what puts him in shock is what inside. His beautiful late wife who he thought was dead is trapped inside the crystal, completely still but looks like she was trying to get out.

"No." Neo whispers with tears prickling his eyes.

"Yes. Beautiful isn't she? Now she is mine forever." Neo is furious. His eyes burning with rage as he hears uka uka laughing evilly at the background.

"You monster!" he pulls against his chains, wanting to attack Tropy but Tiny hold him back.

"You told me she died!" Tropy ignores Neo, just staring at the power crystal with admiration.

"I said that so I can have her to myself, and now she will be essential to my plan for world domination, however I can give her back to you, if you tell me where your daughter is. If not, you will stay here and watch me do whatever I want with your dear wife and watch my plans unfold. The choice is yours." Neo shakes his head more rapidly. He can't believe this. The love of his life is encased in a crystal in front of him and the only way to save her is betray his own daughter. He doesn't know what to do.

"No. NADIA!"

**I will be honest with you guys, I got a little nauseous and uncomfortable while writing the beginning of this chapter as I hate the yandere trope I gave to Tropy but I thought it will make things a little interesting and I like the idea of Tropy being mad and obsessive and I hope you guys do too. Of all the things I am doing to Neo and Coco you guys must think I hate them XD actually they are my two favourite characters along with Nina and that is why they are my focused characters however I will try and give the other characters more attention, like N. Gin is a big example.**

**Anyway guys,**

**Keep Reading! :D **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Coco's eyes went purple for a second and gasps out Neo's name before her eyes go back to green. Something doesn't feel right, she feels disturbed and uncomfortable and she can feel Nadia in destress. N. Gin notices the sudden mood change in Coco and stopped working on the MechBandicoot to give her a concern look.

"Everything ok?" Coco looks shocked for a second to be asked by that by an enemy, then she starts to get defensive.

"I am fine." Coco says defensively as she gets back to work trying to ignore him. N. Gin doesn't really believe her but decides to leave it be. A few feet away from them they hear laughter. They look up to see Crash and Nina playing together while Crunch is preparing for a barbeque with Aku aku nearby talking to him. Coco can't help but watch Crash and Nina and feel slightly jealous. She sees Nina trying to mimic Crash's to the point it is making her dizzy, but ends up laughing anyway. Coco doesn't understand. How can her brother, a hero and an evil scientist's niece get along so well?

"They appear to be having fun." N. Gin says with a laugh, causing Coco to turn towards him.

"I am glad to see Nina smiling and having fun, even if it is with an enemy." he says before getting back to work. Coco wouldn't admit but she silently agrees. She remembered when Crash was depressed after Tawna left him for someone else and Aku aku and Coco tried everything but nothing works, until Crash got taken by Dr Cortex, begging Crash to help him collect the crystals and then defeat him after he finds out Cortex needed them for world domination. After that, Crash went back to his normal self, so should she be thanking Cortex for helping him getting out of that funk, even if it was for selfish reasons? She shakes her head, thinking she is being ridiculous and goes back to work.

"Lunch is ready!" Crunch shouted. Everyone stops what they are doing and run towards Crunch who is setting up the food on the bench for everyone to enjoy. Once they sat down, getting ready to eat, Aku aku floats to Coco and N. Gin,

"How is the robot coming along?" he asks them which N. Gin happily answers,

"Almost finished, it just needs fuel for it to fly and then it will be good to go. However, as I said it can't shoot plasma without any ammo which you can only get from my labs."

"Where Uka uka and N. Tropy are holding Dr Cortex captive." Crunch stating the obvious, making everyone go quiet, especially Nina who can't help but think what they could be doing to her Uncle, making her even more sad. Coco went quiet as well as she is starting to hear Nadia talking to her from her head, slowly getting louder.

"They are not at the labs. They are here with me. I can see them." Nadia says shakily, Coco can tell she has been crying.

"Nadia says they are not there." Everyone looks at Coco waiting for her to continue.

"She said they are with her in a cave somewhere, she showed me and I could see Dr Cortex tied up crying with Tropy and Uka uka looming over him. This is probably the first time I feel sorry for Cortex." she said looking down, then she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turns to see Crash giving her a comforting smile, making her smile back at him. She thinks back to the vision Nadia showed her, looking at how Tropy and Uka uka tormenting Cortex by showing him his late wife trapped in the crystal in front of him. No one deserves that. That is pure torture. She turns to N. Gin,

"You say it only needs fuel?" N. Gin nods,

"Just enough to have it take us to the labs to get plasma ammo. Why?" Coco stands up and rush to the garage with N. Gin following right behind her. She got out a massive tank of fuel, dragging the tank out of the garage.

"You get in MechBandicoot and I will pour this into the engine." She tries to pick up the tank with great difficulty when a metal hand picked it up for her. She looks up to see Crunch, pick it up with ease and pur it into the cannister where the engine is and give N. Gin an ok sign. N. Gin climb into the robot and push the red button to start the engine and pushes the leaver up slowly to make it hover above the ground. Nina can't help but beam at the robot being repaired. Her eyes sparkle knowing this is a beginning of an adventure to save her parents.

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the short chapter after such a long time as I have been very busy for these past few months as I have to sort out myself for a bit due mental health issues and a family member being hospitalized. On a happier note I have a twitch channel I posted on my profile so do check it out. But I will try to keep in touch.**

**Keep Reading! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone! So…. It has been awhile XD I am sorry this entire year has been extremely tough with the pandemic, the lockdown and personal things on top of that but now I can't get this story out of my head and at the moment it's what is keeping me sane. I hope all of you are happy, healthy and following the rules in order to stop the spread of Covid 19. Take Care my lovelies! 3**

**Chapter 11**

After the success of getting MechaBandicoot working, everyone is getting ready for the rescue mission. Crunch is in the kitchen packing food for everyone, Coco and N. Gin makes final touches on the MechaBandicoot and Crash and Nina walks around see if they can help in anyway.

"Alright everyone, we need a plan." Aku aku says,

"We now know Dr Cortex is not in the labs anymore and is in some sort of cave with Nadia who is encased in crystal by Dr N. Troy along with Uka uka who is keeping them captive." he continued while giving Nina a worrying look.

"So, what's the plan?" Crash starts and then mimes the square over his head. Aku aku knows what he is saying,

"You want to go and save Dr Cortex?" Crash nods his head rapidly. Nina is shocked and slightly confused by Crash's answer. Her Uncle said him and Crash are sworn enemies? So why is he adamant to save the guy that tried to kill him?

"Fine. But you can't go in there alone. I shall go with you so I can protect you from Uka uka while you deal with N. Tropy."

"I want to come too!" Nina interjected which makes Aku aku give her a stern look.

"No Nina, I promised your Uncle that I will protect you from Uka uka and you being in the same room as him would put your life at risk. You will stay here where we know you are safe." That statement makes Nina furious,

"You can't be serious! I can't stay here and do nothing!" Aku aku understands her outbursts but his patience is wearing thin, however, he stays calm while trying to reason with her.

"I understand you want to save them, but I also know your safety is there top priority, the very reason why your Uncle brought us here, and I intend to keep you safe. _For them." _he added when he saw Nina was about to protest and got the final word when he turns away from the conversation, bringing Nina in a brink of tears. She feels a tap on her shoulder, she turns to see N. Gin giving her a smile.

"Don't worry. You can come with me, Coco and Nadia. We are going back to my labs so we can get the plasma ammo for the MechaBandicoot." Nina just nods her head.

"WAIT!" Coco interjected,

"Are we splitting up? What happens when one of us be in the same position as Cortex? Plus we don't know which cave they have been held captive. I say we all go to the labs together so neither of us get taken or even worst killed." she said with aggression with her arms crossed giving Aku aku a challenging look while everyone can feel the tension between them. Aku aku looks closely at Coco's eyes and noticed purple specks in her emerald eyes and started to grow concern, but decided to let it slide for now.

"You might be right," Aku aku said with a sigh. "N. Gin, is there any room for us in your robot?" N. Gin scratches his head, thinking.

"Well, it will only fit three people max so unless two people can ride on the shoulders while it's flying? And with it set to a certain speed, I suppose it could work." Aku aku nodded his head ,

"Then it is settled, we will go to the labs first to get more prepared, get the ammo and figure out where they keep Dr Cortex and Nadia. I know all of you are worried but we all know Dr Cortex. He is very determined, something that I find annoying yet admirable." That comment gets a little chuckle from everyone apart from Coco who just simply rolls her eyes. She can also hear a chuckle along with a loving sigh from Nadia, making Coco pull a face in disgust. Then, everyone hears a crash from the house and sees Crunch coming out with rolled up sleeping bags, a basket full of food and a cooler. As he puts everything down on the ground, he sees everyone staring at him.

"What? You never know when we need them." Nina immediately run towards Crunch.

"I can help you," she said, shocking Crunch that the little Cortex wants to help him.

"Well, if you are sure little lady," he gave her the basket and a sleeping bag. With them, she runs towards the MechaBandicoot where N. Gin opens the back for her.

"Nina, can I talk to you?" she turns to see Aku aku that looks like he wants to talk to her about something important. She puts the items in and follow Aku aku away for the others.

"I just want to apologise for earlier. I shouldn't have lost my patience with you, especially when you are, understandably worrying about your family." Nina looks down, feeling depressed when she starts thinking about her Uncle and her mother. Aku aku continues,

"You can come with us as we need as much help as we can plus I don't want you to be alone at our home, however you must stay close to one of us so that we can protect you." Nina stares at Aku aku and smiled,

"Thank you! I hsall help as much as I can, and I am sorry too. I know you just want to protect me and I shouldn't have gotten angry at you." Aku aku smiled back,

"Apology accepted." Nina beamed at him before she runs back to the group when Aku aku's smile dropped to a worried expression. Crash noticed this an gave Aku aku a comforting hand on his back.

"It's nothing Crash, just worried about this little adventure," he said with a sigh as he watches Nina already in the robot using her bionic hands to bring N. Gin and Coco into the compartment.

"Come on Crash, we best get moving."

Back in the cave, Neo Cortex is still chained up to the wall, sitting on the ground, looking at his late wife who is still encased in crystal. He can see Dr N. Tropy focusing on his machinery that involves with his tuning tuning fork connecting to the very crystal. He can't believe the colleague he has been working with for years is the reason for his wife's sudden disappearance. He can feel his hatred for N. Tropy running through his veins and desperately wants to murder him for taking his life away.

"Tiny brought water for master!" he looks up to see Tiny Tiger in front of him holding a bowl of water out to him. Neo realises how thirsty he is when Tiny brings the bowl to his lips and drinks all the water down in one gulp. After he is done, Tiny sits next to him.

"Master knows pretty lady!?" All Neo could do is weakly nod his head.

"Who is pretty lady!?" Just as Neo was about to answe, they hear a loud clang from N. Tropy, causing them to jump.

"Tiny!" N. Tropy shouted.

"Don't converse with him! I want to him to rot while dealing with his wife's last final moment alone, making him realise how much of a failure he is," he said with a sinister smile while Neo is giving him a venomous look. Tiny is hesitant, he is terrified of N. Tropy but he doesn't want to leave his alone in misery.

"Tiny! Get here now!" Neo gave him a smile and a nod to show Tiny that he is fine. With one final look, Tiny gets up and quickly run towards the intimidating time lord.

"I need you to go back to the labs in there are any….intruders wanting to go in and snooping around. I can trust you to not let anyone snoop around in the labs, right?" he said looming over Tiny, making him crouch to the ground, cowering in fear. Tiny rapidly nods his head before he immediately ran out the caves before Dr N. Tropy does anything to him.

"Now then, _Doctor," _he hissed, holding up his tazor with a sinister smile.

"It's just you and me."

Tiny ran out the cave and stopped to see the sky darkened with grey cloud, heavy rain pouring down and lightening flashing above his head. Then, he hears an electric static from inside the cave, follow by his master's painful screaming and crying. Tiny feels helpless as he listens to his master begging for the torture to stop. His ears goes back, trying to cover up the sound while his eyes is welling up with tears. All he can do is follow his orders and walk back to the labs, shivering in the cold rain, crying along the way.


End file.
